Afternoon Rumble: Memphis Excluded From Big 12 Talk, Myles Davis Suspension, and UNLV Lands a Big Transfer.

Catch up on all the latest news here at Rumble in the Garden! Some topics covered include Memphis’ exclusion from Big 12 expansion, Myles Davis’ suspension from Xavier, and UNLV reeling in a big time transfer.

Around St. John’s

• Highly regarded assistant coach Barry Rohrssen and St. John’s have officially parted ways. Make sure you read the full story here.
• St. John’s men’s soccer team will travel to Syracuse on Sunday. Former Big East rival Syracuse is ranked 8th nationally. Sunday’s match against the Orange will be carried on ACC Digital Extra network, which can be streamed on by ESPN3.

The Red Storm are coming fresh off their first win of the season. On Wednesday, St. John’s topped Saint Peter’s by a 2-0 score.

Around the Big East

• The Georgetown men’s basketball team has released their nonconference slate. Some of the highlights include contests against Syracuse, UConn, Maryland, and a trip to Maui.

"We will be tested early and often against quality programs," Head Coach John Thompson III said in a release. "We welcome a few traditional rivals to our schedule and also face a daunting field in Maui."

• As reported by CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein, Providence will compete in the 2017 2k Classic. Washington, Indiana, and Virginia Tech will join them for a nice early season test at Madison Square Garden.
• Xavier Musketeers senior guard Myles Davis has been suspended indefinitely by coach Chris Mack. This news comes amidst legal issues for Davis, USA Today mentions possible criminal charges involving his girlfriend.

Davis was expected to be a leader on Xavier’s team next season. It is undetermined the exact length of his suspension, but his presence would be missed on the court.

"Playing basketball for Xavier is a privilege and we have high expectations for how our student-athletes represent our university." Said head coach Chris Mack to USA Today. "Unless Myles meets those expectations he will not be a part of our program."

Around the nation

• Rutgers continued to embarrass themselves this week, flaunting their basketball program in the most ridiculous way possible.

"Total earnings by Rutgers staff coached players."

If you examine the photo closely, you recognize that a majority of the players mentioned or pictured attended UConn, having no relation to the Scarlet Knights.

Pumping up Rutgers basketball is difficult, but this is new realm of absurd. Oh Rutgers.

• ESPN Top 100 prospect Troy Baxter Jr. has committed to UNLV. Baxter Jr. has made headlines since being released from his national letter of intent at South Florida. His release came on the heels of academic scandal at USF.

"I felt comfortable and relaxed (at South Florida) when first committing," he said to the Las Vegas Review Journal. "But as time went on, that changed. In the end, it just wasn’t the place for me."

Overall, this is a huge commitment for the Runnin’ Rebels. Their situation in Las Vegas is similar to the one Chris Mullin inherited in Queens. UNLV coach Marvin Menzies needs to virtually reconstruct a roster.

• Big 12 expansion continues as we head into the college football season. On Thursday, ESPN reported that the Big 12 had narrowed their list of expansion candidates to at least 12 schools. ESPN couldn’t confirm at the time whether Memphis had made their list or not.

Yesterday, ESPN sources stated Memphis will no longer be considered as an expansion candidate. This came as a surprise to many fans, a large contingency of pundits considered Memphis a viable candidate, mainly because of FedEx’s willingness to pay for the Tigers admission.

Well the Big 12 saga goes on, but it could be put to halt soon. ESPN proclaimed that the conference will make an expansion decision at their regularly scheduled board of directors meeting on October 17th.